Jade Crystals
by Fyre-Flakes
Summary: Aang's been waiting forever for his vacation to the Southern Water Tribe capital, Kana-sy. All he's asking for is some penguin sledding and waterbending shows. Unfortunately, things aren't as relaxed as he expected.
1. Prolouge

**A/N: MY VERY FIRST FANFICTION. Dun dun dun DUN! I'm just hoping for one review. ONE. *puppy face* Everything accepted from flames to CC to insane fan girls with big knives who want to kill me for ruining their favorite cartoon. I'm warning you, this story will blow your mind with its horrificness. You have been warned. Fyre-Flakes will not be held responsible for any comas or deaths. :}**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender. I disowned it because Mike and Bryan were paying a hefty amount of money for it… Ok fine. I've never owned Avatar: The Last Airbender and never will. Hmph.**

**Edit: Ok, well when I started this fic last year, this story was barely in its beginning stages. I guess I just got too excited so it became too crazy and OOC. So here's the completely new and revised chapter. The original prologue that some of you might have read has nothing to do with the new plot.**

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**Prologue: Story Time**

Korra walked side by side with Mako and Bolin. "Look, all I'm trying to say is, were you really sure that we shouldn't have brought Naga? You know, so that we wouldn't have to deal with all this rain?"

Mako rolled his eyes, "I didn't know that after we walked halfway to the Elder's house it would start pouring!"

Korra pointed up at the grey sky. Tall apartment buildings surrounded them as they walked deeper into the poorer parts of Republic City. "What do you see up there? Fluffy, white clouds?"

"Aw Korra, why are you complaining? You're not wet at all." Bolin was busy teasing Pabu with a piece of cheese. Pabu climbed all over his body squeaking, before finally giving up and flopping onto Bolin's head.

"Well I'm tired as hell bending an umbrella above us." Her hands moved ceaselessly to bend the rain into a makeshift shield.

"Is the great Avatar Korra tired already?" Bolin teased, "And here I was, thinking that you were going to run all the way to the Elder's."

"Well I could if I didn't have to stick with you guys!"

The few people that hadn't taken refuge inside their homes glanced over at Korra's loud exclamation. Clutching their umbrellas tighter, the bundled figures moved hurriedly away from the trio.

Korra noticed and raised an eyebrow, "What's up with them?"

A satomobile rushed by almost drowning out Mako's next words, "I don't know. Maybe it's because you have a reputation for getting in trouble."

"Hey, what happened with the police was an accident! I was framed while taking out some bad guys."

"It doesn't matter. Let's hurry, we'll almost there." They walked for a few more minutes in silence.

This was a dark and shady part of Republic City. The streets were almost completely deserted except for the few people who peered at them through their apartment windows. One man leaning by a blockaded window leered at them through a cloud of cigar smoke. Mako looked around nervously; Korra was still bending the rain away, her movements angrier than before. Bolin was gagging on the smell of garbage emitting from nearby alleys.

But something just felt... _wrong_. Even in the place like the slums, (he never understood why the Elder would live here of all places) there should be more activity, more movement. Somebody should have tried to rob them by now. He would know, having lived here for half his life.

Everybody seemed to be afraid of something/ But what? They hadn't strayed into gang territory right?

That was when the shrill whistle screamed into the air. Korra slipped into a bending stance, letting the rain fall on them, as all three of their heads shot up to face the rooftops from where the sound had come from. So when attackers sprang out of the manhole covers below their feet they were taken by surprise.

One man, who hadn't come out of the sewers yet and was directly behind Korra, grabbed her foot with his gloved left hand. Her screams echoed through the streets both from the electricity coursing through her body and from the punctures made by the clawed glove.

Mako threw a fireball at him but the damage was done. Korra slumped unconsciously to ground, bleeding from the ankle while the man, who had a completely black mask on, leaped straight out from the manhole. He rolled to break his fall and landed by the manhole cover which he promptly picked up and threw at Mako.

Mako's eyes widened. How in the world had that guy picked it up and _threw _it like it weighed nothing more than a disk? There was no time to react before the cover slammed him in the gut and he flew backwards. As he lay there stunned, the captain casually walked over and chi-blocked him in the forehead. The man then went and peeled back Korra's eyelids to make sure that she was truly unconscious before checking on Bolin's progress.

Bolin was slowly losing ground but still throwing everything he had at the Equalists. But even as he was watching, the man with a thundercloud-grey aura jumped behind the boy. With a few quick jabs, Bolin lost control of his body and splashed into a puddle.

He was still talking though, "Hey, who are you guys? And what the hell do you want with us?"

Silently the captain walked over and stunned the boy. He turned around to tell the rest of his team, "Normal procedure." Well that had been ridiculously easy. Why would someone as strong as Amon need to worry about the Avatar? As soon as Amon took away the girl's bending, there wouldn't be any more problems with finishing the Revolution.

They finished tying up the Avatar and her friends just as the woman who had blown the whistle jumped down from the fire escape. They were about to leave but then some brave soul in one of the apartments opened her window and shouted at them, "I'll call the police after you! And you bloody Equalists can't do anything about it!"

She promptly slammed her window shut and closed the shutters but he had already gotten a glimpse of her aura. A bright red, she would have been quite the Equalist if she had joined them. He wondered if it was just a bluff; it was unlikely that a slums dweller would own something as expensive as a telephone.

It didn't matter; in either case they would be long gone before the police would be here. Though it was a shame that they would know the kidnapping was the Equalists' work since Amon had hoped that the police would think it was just another gang brawl.

Oh well. You couldn't win everything. Tossing the adolescents to an Equalist waiting in the sewers, the captain himself carried the earthbending boy. He could already feel the boy's weight pressing down on him. Maybe he was getting out of shape. There just wasn't enough action ever since Amon had changed his plans because of the Avatar's arrival. Seriously though, she was a 16 year old girl, even if she had mastered 3 elements. The boom of the closing manhole and the consequential darkness heralded their arrival into the sewer tunnels.

He led the way since he was the only one that could see the aura of the moss that grew on the tunnel sides. The Equalists hadn't dared to place torches in the sewers for fear of igniting any gases. As such, only the teams that he led could travel through the city along the sewers. He had cultivated and placed small pots of this moss to mark the path. Turning another corner, he was quietly satisfied that Amon put so much trust in him.

Then he realized that they reached a dead end. The moss grew all over the wall here. It didn't look familiar to him. He blinked. He knew he hadn't made any wrong turns… he was sure of it! He personally went and checked that all the markings were in place everyday! Trying to keep calm, he told the rest of his team, "Wait, stay here. I need to double back to check something." He slid the boy off his shoulders and ignored the exclamations and questions the others were saying.

"Stay here," he repeated and then left. Looking back once, he saw that the others had placed their captives on the ground too. He was surprised that none of them had stirred yet despite the awful stench. But he supposed that the darkness deepened their sleep.

As he retraced his footsteps, a feeling of unease grew inside of him. He didn't see any of his potted moss even though he had seen at least 5 before they walked into the dead end.

And he walked straight into another dead end that hadn't been there before. The smell of the sewers had completely dissipated. The tunnel walls were no longer made of stone but pure earth. It was with a heavy heart and the knowledge that he was trapped, that the captain turned back.

He nearly died from a heart attack when he saw the old lady standing at the end of the tunnel, blocking his way out. She wore a red robe and looked around 80 years old, judging from her white hair and numerous wrinkles, and that was ordinary enough but her eyes… her eyes were glowing pink.

Without moving her arms (or at least as far as he could tell) wind and small droplets of water swirled around her and flew at him, flicking him with moisture. With some surprise he noticed that the wind smelled like campfire smoke and spices. She was smiling softly, but there was a sort of emptiness behind it as if she didn't know why she was happy. But what scared the captain the most was that her aura was pitch black.

He had _never_ ever seen a person with such an evil aura.

He backed away from her until his back was pressed against the wall. "What-wha-what _are_ you?" He stuttered. His voice cracked in the middle too. She tilted her head like a curious child then started walking forward at a steady shuffling speed. He vaguely acknowledged that fact that a wall of flame had risen behind her, when she started moving, to block the tunnel exit.

The captain knew that he should probably start running or chi block the old woman or do _something_ but he couldn't move. It was as if his brain had gone dead from fear. All he could do was watch her approach ever so slowly, her ridiculously long, almost ground-length hair, that was restrained by a hair band, swing from side to side- almost like a pendulum.

When she was within an arm's reach away from the captain, the light from her eyes _cracked_, almost like lightning. The wind started to die down and something in her expression changed, but then the glow returned strong as ever and the gale blew up around her again.

He tried again, "Answer me! What are you?" But in his heart he already knew the answer. A freak with glowing eyes and the ability to bend more than one element; something that didn't belong in this plane of existence.

She studied him for a movement then shuffled even closer until he could see her non-existent pupils and she could see his. Absentmindedly, he noticed that she moved extremely slowly. Or maybe it was the opposite and she moved too fast for his mind to comprehend the action?

All sound faded away, even his ragged breathing and the rabid thumping of his heart. He couldn't feel the weight of his clothes anymore or the confined space of his mask. The world had gone completely black, turned into a void; he couldn't even see his own aura anymore. With only the empty wind whistling around him, it felt like nothing in the world existed but them.

She was shorter than him, but black terror suddenly started to twist his stomach into knots as she slowly extended her hand out towards him. She couldn't energybend right? Only Amon and the Avatars could do that…right?

The feeling quickly faded. There was no bending that she could remove in any case. Why had he been so scared? It was just because he had seen the gesture used by Amon many times and seen the effect it had on people that it been ingrained in him as a gesture to be feared… Used by Amon… Amon. AMON!

His eyes shot open and he tried to jump over the old woman. But it was too late; there was a twisted leer on her face that made him feel sick, and her hand lightly patted his head and everything started to fade. He pressed against the wall for support but… he was so tired…

**OoOoO**

She kicked the ground nervously. The captain had been gone for so long… everybody was getting worried even if they tried to not show it. If he didn't return… well they would have to grope their way around the sewers to find a manhole to exit from. Nobody was excited to try that idea out, so they waited.

The captain really hadn't acted like himself… he was usually cool and collected but he had suddenly stopped them in the middle of a tunnel and doubled back. There had even been a slight edge of panic in his tone. Did he forget the way or something?

One of the others stirred. He said, "I know that the captain told us to stay, but he's been gone for too long. We should go check on him." There was a unanimous muttering of agreement.

Then his buddy turned towards her, "Hey you. Can you guard these kids?" There was a bossy and confident tone in his voice as if he was sure that she would agree. She hated that guy, she was older than him but he acted like she was some helpless painted doll.

Still, they did need someone to keep an eye on the Avatar so she grunted, "Fine."

The other three left a few minutes later. That third person never talked. She still wasn't sure if it was a male or female. The red boy groaned. She crouched down and poked his forehead pressure point. Then her boredom set in. She had been left behind to take care of 3 unconscious teenagers, who weren't going to wake up anytime soon, in the sewers. Being an Equalist was such a great job.

Wait, what was that ringing noise? She stood up uneasily. Picking up her net, she started to spin it in slow revolving circles. "Who's there?" She called out commandingly. There was no answer except for the dripping of sewage waste. What a bundle of nerves she was. She snorted and set the net down. It made a slurping sound as it settled in the 'water'. Ewwww…

Then a feeling of blistering heat and the smell of spices overwhelmed her. Before she could react, a blazing fire had set her alight. She screamed and rolled but it wouldn't stop burning. Someone was laughing at her, something that didn't sound human.

What was happening, what was happeni- she screamed again as the heat suddenly intensified. Before the fire could consume her, the smoke got to her. Choking and coughing, her last sensation was of falling face first into the sewage waste, setting whatever garbage was in it on fire. At least the mask helped keep out a bit of water…and the evil not human thing was still laughing….

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The smell of spices invaded her nose. Mmm… they smelled really nice. Korra opened her eyes. After her vision stopped appearing so blurry, she could see that she was in a bed, covered by a red blanket. The bedroom looked really small. She turned her head and to her surprise there was an old woman sitting there wearing a red robe.

At that moment, said old woman jerked awake to look at her. She had light brown, sort of hazel eyes. She smiled, "Hello, I'm glad that you're awake now, Avatar Korra. I'm sorry that my home doesn't have much to offer for one as great as you."

Korra flushed. Well ok, she definitely had mastered 3 elements, but still, she wasn't a fully realized avatar yet! "It's a really nice house. Oh and just call me Korra."

**OoOoO**

"So who were the guys that attacked us?" Korra leaned back against her chair. The trio sat in a semi circle in front of the Elder, who smiled patiently. Mako had almost burnt her face off when she went to wake him up and Bolin had just kept snoring into his pillow until Mako bodily lifted him away from the bed and set him on the ground.

"They were Equalists, Korra." Mako explained. He ran his fingers over his chair's carving over and over, agitatedly, "Their leader's called Amon and he leads a bunch of people who think that benders are evil and need to be killed."

Korra frowned and leaned forward, her chair landing with a muffled thump on the threadbare carpet, "That's sick! What about the Avatar? The Avatar's the peacekeeper of the world; do they think I'm evil too?"

"Yeah, that's why they kidnapped us." Bolin whistled, "Wow, you're becoming really famous now, Korra."

Mako turned his head towards the Elder, "Elder, how did you get us away from the Equalists?"

She smiled a bit wider, "Oh no, I didn't do it. Someone called the police and they went into the sewers to follow the Equalists. I was waiting for them to come back, and when they did come back, bringing you along with them, I told them I could take care of you. So they carried you back to my home and I've taken care of you for a few hours."

"Thanks for helping us!" Korra smiled. "And um… we were coming to your house when the Equalists attacked us, because you had some advice or something you could give me?"

The Elder smiled, "Of course. It's just a short story."

Korra blinked, "Oh. That's ok. Yeah, so the story?"

The Elder launched into the story with gusto and lots of hand movements, "70 years ago, the 100 Year War ended due to Avatar Aang and his friends' efforts. But there's another story that precedes his…"

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**A/N: Wow, that took forever to write. :c And this is only a prologue leading into the real story. This might not make a lot of sense right now, but I'll try to clear things up as I go. It'll probably take a while though. **

**However, this is important to really understanding the story, so it'll be a good idea to remember this chapter. ^.^  
**

**And this is technically an AU crossover just to let you guys know.**

**Thanks for reading! **


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: I'm very, very late with this update. DX**

**I deleted the old story and updated a new one. So for the 4 reviewers that you can't see anymore, I heart you Munchy, Forever Fyre, Spry and IceDragon. ^^ Also, thank you Mr. Moop for the encouragement.**

**Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender is ©opyrighted, owned and made by Mike and Bryan… and I guess Nickolodean too. I have absolutely no connection with the making of this awesome show and have merely taken some liberties in the writing of this fanfic. All OCs, topics, and ideas addressed in here belong to me, don't steal stuff from me, ice cream tastes nice, etc, etc.**

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**Chapter 1: Kana-Sy**

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The air is cold and crisp. Aang shivers holding Appa's reins and promptly bends a ball of warm air around him. He is extremely excited and is constantly craning his neck to look at something black that's far, far away.

He asks Appa, "What do you think the Southern Water Tribe capital's like?" He lets go of the reins for a moment; Appa can see the blot on the horizon too. "I think it's probably going to be a huge ice city with an enormous ice castle in the very middle! And then there'll be water slides and those prunes that Monk Sonam goes on forever about. I wonder if they do waterbending demonstrations for visitors?"

Aang goes on and on as Appa listens patiently. The blot becomes bigger and bigger, and Aang eventually lapses into an excited silence. As they can start making out the details of the city, Aang mutters, "It looks a lot smaller than Monk Sonam said it was…"

It's not long before Aang realizes that the capital of the Southern Water Tribe is a tiny village made up of a few tents, a couple of bunched together small igloos and one large igloo that faces the Sanuk Bay. There's a skimpy, barely shoulder high wall surrounding it. A small, hand-built tower, that he thinks he sees someone standing on, rises a few feet from the wall.

His heart sinks even more as he draws closer to his destination. Huge boulders litter the vicinity around it. The remains of ice walls and igloos lie behind it. The villagers gather around their fire and look up at him fearfully. What happened here?

As he lands by the ruins of a gate, a boy wearing dark war paint marches towards him holding a machete. Just as Aang jumps off Appa and opens his mouth, the boy points his machete aggressively, straight at Aang.

"Who are you and what do you want?" The boy can't be much older then Aang. His voice hasn't completely deepened yet but there's real anger in his voice.

Before Aang can formulate a response, a girl with- are those hair loopies? –runs at the boy shouting, "Sokka, he's just a kid!"

The boy, Sokka's, expression turns uncertain for a while before he shrugs the girl off, "Well I've never seen weirder clothes than that what that guy's wearing! And look at that huge, fluffy monster he was riding!" He's pointing at Appa now.

Aang blinks, "But these are traditional air nomad robes. And that's Appa, my flying bison. Haven't you seen one before?" He shifts his staff from one hand to the other. He wonders why there aren't any adult guards.

The girl rounds on the pony-tailed boy, "He's just an air nomad. And you were about to murder him. Doesn't that make you feel great?"

"Hey, why would y-!" Aang's indignant interjection is cut off. The two teenagers aren't even listening to him any more.

Sokka shoots back, "You really believe him? I bet you haven't even seen one before!"

"Well you can tell that he's an Earth Kingdom spy just by that _evil_ look in his eyes." The girl crosses her arms and smirks.

It suddenly occurs to Aang that they're the only ones standing out here, outside of the protection (meager as it is) of the village walls. The rest of the villagers still stare at him warily through the village gates. All the adults are women from what he can see and they gather their children behind them protectively, but the kids have already gotten over their fear. He sees one little boy tugging at his mother's dress and dancing around frantically.

He smiles and his grey eyes soften. He still doesn't get what all the fuss is about, but the sooner the argument ends, the sooner the villagers will relax. And the sooner that he can go somewhere to warm up!

"Um, guys?"

They turn simultaneously towards him, their faces barely inches apart and contorted with anger. "What?"

He brings his hand up and forms a small ball of air. Snow spins around inside the globe. He grins widely. "So that settles it right?"

The two teenagers just stare at him for a moment. The girl smirks and crosses her arms again. The boy just shoots him a glare and then mutters, "Fine. You're an airbender. But that doesn't mean you're not an Earth Kingdom spy!"

The girl rolls her eyes at him and then extends her hand forward, "Sorry about that. My name's Katara. And that's my paranoid brother, Sokka."

Sokka indignantly says, "Warriors are cautious, not paranoid!" Katara ignores him as she waits for a reply, but the air nomad boy doesn't respond. His mouth's opened in an "o" shape and there's an unfocused look in his eyes.

Katara asks uncertainly, "Um, what's your name?" Her extended hand hangs awkwardly between them. Then the air nomad snaps back to life and shakes her hand.

There's a goofy grin on his face, "My name's Aang."

Well that was weird… "And your bison's name is Appa?"

"Yeah, do you want to ride on him?"

Hey, that would be cool. When was the next time she would get a chance to ride on a flying bison? "Thanks for the offer! Maybe later, after you see the village." She leads him by the hand towards the gate, while Sokka complains behind her. Appa lumbers behind them and stops when he reaches the wall.

Aang rubs the bison's forehead arrow affectionately, "I'll make sure you get a comfortable bed, Appa."

Then he goes to stand in front of the villagers, holding his staff loosely and a grin on his face. Wow, he never stops smiling. It's sort of nice actually; nobody ever smiles like he does, like they're happy just by being alive.

Gran Gran's stands at the entire village's head, her half-lidded but still knowledgeable eyes searching Aang's face.

Katara stands forward and puts a hand on his shoulder, "Entire village, this is Aang. He's an air nomad." Then she gestures towards the villagers, "Aang, meet the entire village."

He puts his hands together around his staff and bows to them, "It's an honor to finally meet the members of Southern Water Tribe." When he comes up again, Katara's about to talk but Aang beats her to the punch, "Why are you guys looking so weirdly at me?" He checks his clothes, "Did Appa sneeze on me?"

Gran Gran finally speaks, "We haven't seen an air nomad in 10 years." She pauses as if to let that sink in to Aang's brain. "We're all a little surprised. Why are you here?"

Katara quickly interjects, "That's my grandmother."

She deadpans, "Call me Gran Gran."

Aang looks a bit put off by the sudden question but answers anyway, "The monks sent me here for my mastery travels."

"Of course, I should have known." Mastery travels? What?

"Yeah." He looks at Gran Gran curiously, "The Air Nomad Elders don't usually tell people about them."

She actually smiles and the laugh lines near her eyes and mouth become apparent, "I traveled the world when I was younger. I've met some extraordinary people."

Huh. Gran Gran never told them why she decided to leave home to go wandering- but maybe if she digs a bit, Gran Gran will tell her.

With that Gran Gran turns away and gestures for Aang to follow, "We'll find a place for your bison to sleep, rest assured. But let's show you your tent first."

Aang follows, taking his staff with him, but for some reason he shoots Sokka and her a glance first. She nods reassuringly before he follows.

**OoOoO**

Katara's grandmother leads Aang to a small tent that's snuggled up close to big igloo. She enters the tent and Aang does the same. He opens the flap and looks around.

He has to crouch to fit in, but whatever material the tent's made out of keeps the warmth in. There's already a sleeping bag laid out and there's also an oil lamp attached to the tent pole. It'll work.

She looks at him with wrinkly, hooded eyes, "This is our guest tent. It hasn't been used in a long time to be truthful, but I hope you'll be fine with it." Her tone of voice leaves no room for argument.

The old woman stands up, brushing away some powdery snow on her dress, "You shouldn't go out into the wilderness right now. It's almost nightfall and dinner is in an hour."

Before he can open his mouth, Gran Gran leaves. The tent's entrance flaps around in the wind, carrying with it the sound of children laughing.

Hey, maybe he can join in on the fun! Excitedly grabbing his staff, he goes outside and blinks in the bright light. He squints from the glare coming off the snow. When his eyes finally refocus, he realizes that all the children are gathered around Appa. Some off them have somehow managed to climb onto his head while others are on their way up, clinging onto Appa's fur.

He's about to warn them to be careful to not fall, but then he realizes that Appa's conscious of his burden and is sitting down. The boys are using Appa's tail as a slide while the girls are braiding the fur on his head. There's a little girl with two braids who's sitting right on top of Appa's arrow. She's starting to slip downwards when Appa snorts and throws his head back. She giggles at the comical effect it provides as all his braids go flying in the air before landing right in front of his eyes.

At that moment, Sokka comes stomping towards them, his eyes narrowed, scowling. There's a club in one hand and Aang can see a boomerang in its sheath on his back.

"Warriors, come back to the training grounds at once!" Katara's brother crosses his arms and looks sternly at them. His dramatic image is slightly ruined when another boy slides down and upon landing in the pile of snow, covers Sokka in snow.

The boys are blatantly ignoring him and continue yelling and throwing snowballs at each other. A disgruntled Sokka brushes the snow off as Aang uses a spiral of air to land on Appa's saddle. He looks down at Sokka while lying on his stomach, "Where's the problem with some fun now and then?"

Sokka snorts and glares right back up at him, "Yeah, except we don't have the time to "have" fun!" He transfers his gaze back to the ground and unconsciously steps back to lean against Appa.

Aang looks at the kids in front of him. Well they seem to be enjoying themselves; the girls have given up on braiding Appa's fur and had slid down his tail to join in the snowball fight. "Why not?"

Aang misses the incredulous look that Sokka sends his way because he's busy studying the horizon. "You're kidding right? Because of th-"

A joyful cry of 'PENGUINS!' interrupts Sokka's sentence and Sokka feels a rush of air pass by him. "-the war?"

All that he can see of Aang is a settling cloud of snow. Walking towards the edge of the hill and peering down, he sees the penguin sliding away with the air nomad boy following it, riding on some ball or something.

He slaps his forehead, "Great. Now I'm going to have to go after him to make sure he gets back to the village safely, won't I?" Grumbling, he goes to find his sled.

**OoOoO**

The otter-penguin's sliding fast down the slope and Aang can't catch up to it. But if he can follow it, maybe it'll lead him to a penguin colony!

The four flippered penguin speeds through twists and turns and narrow tunnels, barking the entire way. Aang laughs along with it, whooping as he flies around the walls of the cavern, flipping upside down at times.

The ride's over far too soon and they begin slowing down before finally stopping on an arctic tundra filled with penguins. He uses the last diminishing bits of momentum to catch up with the penguin before his air ball dies out.

The whiskered penguin stands up from its belly-flop position and waddles off towards its friends and family, without sparing Aang a glance.

Aang walks right by it, imitating its curious way of walking comically while also making honking noises.

The otter-penguin ignores him.

Aang grins and drops the act. "Come on, we could be friends! I know you had fun sledding with me." He gives one of those wide, toothy smiles to the penguin.

The otter-penguin gives him one half-contemptuous, half-exasperated look before joining a group of 5 other penguins. They huddle around each other in a circle and hurriedly move away each time Aang tries to get closer to pet one.

**OoOoO**

Sokka spent 15 minutes trying to find his sled only to realize some of the boys took it to stockpile snowballs on. He uses another 10 minutes playing tug of war with the boys over his sled. When he finally drags it away, his arms sore from the surprisingly strong strength of 5 year old boys, he plops the sled down on the edge of the hill and heaves a sigh.

That's when the sled starts to tip over the edge. He makes a desperate grab for the rope, but even as he grabs it, the sled's taking off down the slope. It's surprising that Aang doesn't hear his high-pitched screaming as Sokka all but rolls down the hill.

When he lands at the base of the hill, stunned and dazed, a curious otter-penguin waddles over and pokes him with its webbed foot. When he doesn't move, the penguin steps onto his back and starts jumping up and down on top of him.

That's how Aang finds Sokka half an hour later, groaning in protest but too weak to move with a happy otter-penguin using his back as a trampoline. Quite predictably, Sokka was annoyed at having been found in this state.

He mutters, "Thanks" as Aang shoos the otter-penguin away and then helps him brush off the excess slush on his clothes.

Aang notices the otter-penguin still hovering around by them and cheerfully states, "You're a really good penguin tamer, Sokka. I've been trying all day to get them to come near me but they run away every time. You should teach me how you do it."

The Water Tribe boy rolls his eyes. "We need to go back to the village. You know that it's really dangerous out here right? Arctic wolves hunt after sunset."

The Air Nomad boy's more concerned about the birds than himself, "But what do the penguins do then?"

"They'll be fine. They taste really, really nasty." Sokka shudders as he relives the sensation of biting into his first and last cooked penguin. Ok sure, maybe Dad had warned him that they didn't taste good, but it had been his seventh birthday and he had wanted something special.

So it was completely not his fault that they tasted like rotten eggs. It wasn't his fault either that his gag reflex had made him throw up all over the table.

Aang looks shocked, "You've eaten penguins before?"

Sokka frowns. "What's so surprising about that? They're meat. Everybody eats meat. Eating meat's a way of life!"

"It's not our way of life." The kid actually looks serious for once. He stares intently at the snowy ground. "The monks taught me that every life is sacred, from the largest manatee-whale to the smallest jacket-ant." He looks up. "So we shouldn't take lives away needlessly."

Sokka's jaw drops to the ground. "What sort of alien are you? There's no way a man could survive without meat."

Aang just shrugs, "Well I'm only a kid right now." With that he seems to dismiss the matter and goes back to making a mini snowman on the ground.

"Okay, we really need to go back to the village now." Sokka looks pointedly at Aang and his snowman.

Aang cheerfully jumps up. "I'll call Appa!" Before Sokka can object, he takes a whistle shaped like an animal out of his clothes and blows hard into it.

No sound comes out except for a faint whistling of air. The Water Tribe boy smacks his forehead, "What was that supposed to do?"

The answer comes from right behind him and licks him from head to toe.

"Ewww, bison slobber!"

"Thanks for coming, buddy! Come on Sokka, climb up!"

"Look Arrowhead, if this wasn't the fastest way back to the village, I wouldn't be hitching a ride on your magical flying bison right now."

"Don't worry, you're going to love flying on Appa. Yip yip!"

**OoOoO**

She hasn't seen Aang since he left with Gran Gran. The rest of the villagers dissipated after that to go back to finishing their daily chores. The little boys were rounded up and reluctantly went with Sokka for another one of their "warrior lessons."

She doesn't think it went well though. Not long after, Sokka stormed by the campfire, a huge scowl on his face.

Katara smiles as she stirs the sea prune soup. She has to hand it to Sokka for his extreme stupidity for thinking that little 5 year olds would be interested in becoming warriors. Still, it only proves how dedicated he has become towards protecting their little village… since that day.

Without realizing it, Katara goes to touch the necklace at her throat and runs her fingers over the familiar grooves. At that moment, someone wearing orange and brown boots walks over by the simmering soup.

"Hey, that's a pretty necklace." Aang's cheerful voice breaks her reverie. He sits down by her and crosses his legs.

She self-consciously lowers her hand and resumes stirring the soup. "Thanks. It was my… my mom's."

Aang obliviously continues, "Have I met her yet?"

Katara closes her eyes. The bone spoon lies limp in her hand as a wave of emotion suddenly hits her. She quietly whispers, "No." 6 years… it's been 6 years.

Aang scoots closer, a concerned look on his face, "Um… did something happen?"

She turns to look at him, at his wide, innocent, grey eyes, at the face that hasn't completely lost all of its baby fat, and feels that she can trust him. It's not reasonable and it doesn't make sense because he's a complete stranger, but Katara trusts him.

She turns her head away, "My mother was called Kya. She died 6 years ago when the Earth Kingdom raided our city."

Aang frowns, "I'm sorry that your mom died… But that doesn't make any sense. Why would the Earth Kingdom raid the Water Tribes? Was it a group of pirates?"

Katara looks at him in amazement. Wasn't it obvious? Because of the war?

But before she can question him, the rest of the village arrives for supper time. The kids had been running around playing a game of tag before their parents usher them towards the fire. Their pouts and annoyance at having their game broken up quickly turn to smiles and laughs when they see Aang. Soon he's been mobbed by all of the village children, each of them asking questions.

"Why do you have a blue arrow on your head?"

"The monks tattooed it on my head when I mastered airbending." Aang smiles at the girl that asked the question, Nika.

That prompts another volley, "You're a master airbender?" "What's airbending?" "Did it hurt?"

Katara can't help chuckling behind her mitten. She's never seen the village kids so excited before. In the short time since Aang's arrived, he's already inserted himself as part of the village.

Noticing her mirth, Aang glances up and smiles at her. Without realizing it, she gives a grin back. She wants to know what he means by that question, but not now. Maybe tomorrow.

**OoOoO**

A teenage boy stands on top of the command tower of a steamship. He's wearing nothing but a thin sleeping robe but he doesn't seem to feel the cold of the South Pole. He watches the aurora lights dance overhead with tired, amber eyes.

He absentmindedly fingers something in his pocket as the streams of yellow green light slowly twist above his head. With a sigh, the boy lifts his hand up to touch the huge, red scar covering the left side of his face.

The door behind him screeches open at that moment.

He abruptly drops his hand and turns around to confront the newcomer, "Uncle, I don't need to be babysitted."

The portly, old man just calmly smiles and folds his hands into his sleeves, "I only came here to tell you good night." He then promptly stretches his arms and gives an exaggerated yawn, "But a man needs his sleep, Prince Zuko. As beautiful as the aurora lights are, it wouldn't be healthy to spend all night looking at them."

Zuko turns back towards the ocean, "I can't sleep. We've almost reached the Southern Water Tribe. Another place where the coward Avatar might be hiding."

"It is freezing out here. At least come back into the ship. Otherwise you might catch a cold."

The teenage boy narrows his eyes, his scarred one becoming no larger than a slit, "It's easier to think out here."

His uncle starts to say something but then gives a despairing shake of his head before heading back through the door. He returns a moment later with a blanket that he drapes over Zuko's shoulders.

The boy doesn't react but lets his uncle's hand stay on his shoulder.

They stay like that for a few seconds before Iroh leaves.

The prince follows a few minutes later and the helmsman continues guiding the ship around the numerous icebergs poking out of the sea, wondering what that had been all about.

* * *

**A/N: Yes, I know. There isn't a lot of action. Things will pick up more in the next chapter. **

**In any case I've already given you an obvious hint about the biggest plot point in the story. It's really obvious. Really, really obvious. XD **

**I'm most worried about how IC everyone is. So I'd love any feedback you guys have.**

**Thanks for reading!**


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